Shawn for NH

Shawn is a Democratic candidate running for the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Shawn O'Connor is a successful educational entrepreneur, a proven job creator, and an active community leader who is deeply committed to bridging the partisan divide in Washington in order to facilitate the passage of pragmatic public policies that will ensure affordable, high quality healthcare as well as economic and educational opportunities for all “Granite Staters” and Americans.

Shawn is the founder and CEO of Stratus Prep, the world’s leading independent test preparation and admissions counseling firm. With more than a decade of experience in test preparation and admissions consulting, Shawn has helped thousands of applicants achieve admission to their top choice prep schools, colleges, business schools, law schools, and graduate schools, many with full scholarships. Last year, Shawn and the Stratus Prep team worked with applicants in 50 countries and 39 states who were accepted at Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, Dartmouth, the University of Pennsylvania, and Columbia, among many other top schools.

Shawn launched Stratus Prep from a small apartment in New York City with just $5,000 in savings. The multi-million company, which now boasts approximately 40 counselors, tutors, and staff members, was recently named to the Inc. 5000 (a list of the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the nation), ranking #22 in the education industry.

A creative problem-solver, Shawn is also the founder and president of The Stratus Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit which provides test preparation and admissions counseling scholarships to economically underprivileged applicants and ensures that no one is left behind in our increasingly test-centric educational environment.

Shawn writes about entrepreneurship and MBA admissions for Forbes and law school admissions and LSAT prep forU.S. News and World Report. Stratus Prep and Shawn have also been featured in Fortune, Bloomberg Businessweek, The Wall Street Journal, among other leading business publications. Shawn travels across the U.S. and around the world speaking at the world's top universities, corporations, and non-profit organizations about higher education. He has recently spoken at Columbia University, Teach for America, City Year, and Princeton University as well as in the UK, India, Brazil and Germany.

Shawn received his Master's in Business Administration with Highest Honors (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School and his Juris Doctor, cum laude from Harvard Law School. Shawn graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service where he majored in international politics and won the Dean’s Medal for Highest GPA as well as the prize for Best Latin American Studies thesis.

Shawn is admitted to the bar in New York and Massachusetts, has served on numerous non-profit and corporate boards, and has worked in various political capacities on the federal, state, and local level. Shawn serves on the board of City Year New Hampshire and Red River Theatre in Concord. He is also the Treasurer of St. Matthew’s Church in Goffstown.

Shawn lives in Bedford, New Hampshire with his partner, Joshua Bruner, and their pug, Bailey.